Harbor Church

A harbor is a sheltered body of water where ships can find safety from the turbulent waters of the open seas. It’s also a place where sailors can rest from their travels and renew their strength before being sent back out with goods to export all over the world. Our name reflects our desire to be a place of safety and sending, where people from Sarpy County’s surrounding communities find refuge from the storms of life as they are renewed by the gospel and sent back into their neighborhoods and networks to show and share the good news of Jesus, capturing our heart to become a hub of church planting for the entire county.

To make Sarpy County a great place for all people. There’s a reason Sarpy County is the fastest growing county in the state of Nebraska. It’s a great place to live! From the schools and the parks to the athletic programs and academics, people are excited to call this place home. Our desire is to make each and every Sarpy County community great by saturating every corner of the county with the glory and grace of Jesus.

To multiply disciples and churches. Disciples are people who trust Jesus as Savior and submit to him as Lord. He now lives in them, transforming every area of their lives. This is what it means to be a Christian, and this is the mission of the church. Church planting is God’s strategy for making disciples, and we have a vision for multiplying disciples and churches throughout our region and the world.

To demonstrate and proclaim the gospel to everyone everywhere. The gospel is the good news that God is redeeming and renewing our broken world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe that this news has the power to renew entire communities as people experience his grace and truth. We unapologetically proclaim the good news through our actions and words because we want all people to experience the freedom and joy of this incredible message.

Every church has an identity, a set of defining characters that shape the culture of the church community in powerful yet intangible ways. At Harbor, we want to intentionally cultivate a culture that is defined and shaped by three things: theological clarity, relational beauty, and historic Christianity.

Theological Clarity. In a world filled with nominal Christianity, many people are confused about what Christians should believe, even among those who profess to follow Christ. Therefore, in an effort to help believers strengthen their Christian convictions - and to encourage skeptics to give Christianity a fair hearing - we aim to preach the truth of God’s Word clearly, sympathetically, and unapologetically.

Relational Beauty. Too many people have rejected Christianity not because they’ve never heard the gospel preached, but because they’ve never seen it practiced. At Harbor, we work hard to cultivate a shared experience of grace that defines and sweetens every human interaction so that the gospel is both proclaimed and embodied among the members our church community.

Historic Christianity. Every generation has its own unique perspective. It is, as C.S. Lewis argues, especially good at seeing certain truths, and especially susceptible to missing others.1 We need, therefore, the time-tested wisdom of the historic Christian church to help us see the gospel more clearly. For this reason, we embrace the rich heritage of the Reformed Protestant tradition, using the timeless creeds, confessions, and professions of the historic church to renew the contemporary church in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• We dream of a church where nominal Christians become fully devoted disciples of Jesus through a non-ignorable movement of the gospel that brings renewal to the entire region. 

• We dream of a church that prioritizes spiritual formation through a counter-formative network of small groups that emphasize discipleship in the context of biblical community. 

• We dream of a historic Christian church that embraces the creeds, confessions, liturgies, and hymns of the Reformed, Protestant tradition. 

• We dream of a church that engages Sarpy County with the gospel through Christians who live as a faithful presence among their various relational networks. 

• We dream of thousands of disillusioned skeptics awakened to a life of vibrant faith through Christians who live out the gospel in wise and winsome ways. 

• We dream of a church that has a reputation for theological clarity, relational beauty, and historic Christianity.

• We dream of a church that helps all people flourish by pursuing the common good. 

• We dream of becoming a regional hub for church planting that will renew and transform the entire county through autonomous local churches that operate as harbors of safety and sending in each of Sarpy County’s local communities.

• We dream of exporting the gospel around the world by discipling, developing, and deploying men and women for global missions through church planting.